By Manal Abdel Fattah
Within the framework of the activities of the World Youth Festival held by Russia in Sochi, the Russian regions honored foreign delegations participating in the events.
The Penza region, located in central Russia, with a population of 300,000, chose Egypt to honor the young Egyptians participating in the 20th session of the festival.
Sherif Gad, deputy head of the Egyptian delegation, and Dr. Hassan Ghazali, member of the delegation, received the Penza region, headed by Artyom Kolobov, in the festival square for a bilateral meeting between the two delegations.
Artyom welcomed the large and distinguished Egyptian delegation since its arrival in Sochi and invited members of the Egyptian delegation to visit the Penza Region, and talked about what distinguishes the Penza Region in the fields of industry, culture, science and arts.
The delegation of the Penza region presented an artistic show specifically for the Egyptian delegation, which included folk dances and folk songs from Russian folklore in folk costume.
The Egyptian delegation joined friends from the Penza region to celebrate Russian culture through Russian folk songs and dances.
From Egypt, the artist Mohamed Ezzat performed songs on the oud, and the youth of the Benza region also participated in celebrating the Egyptian song and Egyptian culture.
Sherif Gad spoke about the Egyptian delegation consisting of 126 of Egypt’s best young men. Gad spoke about the most important historical features of Egyptian civilization, and welcomed the visit of the youth of the Benza region to Egypt to learn more about the ancient Egyptian civilization.
Ghazali stressed in his speech: “We came to Sochi to learn about people’s cultures and be open to them with an open, loving heart that loves culture. Egyptian civilization is the cradle of culture, and its history started from the principle of cultural pluralism. Different civilizations and different cultures lived in Egypt.”
At the conclusion of the meeting, the two delegations exchanged souvenirs, stressing their desire to communicate and exchange visits between the Benza region and Egypt.
